Wednesday, March 26 2008

The disappointment was overwhelming when I saw that these ‘buns’ looked like. They didn’t taste very good either.

I can’t blame Ikea too much cos I literally make the very best cinnamon buns in the world – when I have access to the right ingredients. The trouble with living in the US, it is difficult to find fresh yeast. I’ve been to the upmarket food store Whole Food and asked their bakery if I could buy some fresh yeast but no, they don’t use it.

Friday, March 21 2008

So the recap is that since my teens I have this ‘you are grown up if you have the following items …’

Last outstanding item on this list is owning a car. Sadly.

But after living in SF for a 1,5 years, the conclusion is I/we need a car. We have rented cars so often at occasions, the $$ are piling up without us getting the benefit of the 24/7 access.

Public transporting in SF is alright but it is too limiting. And also, anyone with some money owns a car so the people on the Muni is either politically motivated, very poor, weirdos and homeless = kind of extreme people on there. I have seen a homeless piss in a crowded bus, a rat almost showed in my face. All that stuff makes muni-riding unpleasant, unpredictable in bad way.

So a car it will be. I have a few don’ts regarding this too. I don’t like driving American cars, instinctively once I sit them it just feels so wrong. I don’t like these big fuck off cars either. If these cars don’t have a utility usage for them, then I think they are completely unnecessary.

Plus to state the obvious, gas prices will only go one way and that it up-up-and-UP.

An European or Japanese car is what I am after. Most likely it will be a 2nd hand car. Even though new cars in the US are waaaay cheaper then in the UK, at the moment we don’t have that kind of money. If a car cost Â£20,000 in the UK, then the it will probably cost in the US $20,000 and just remind you Â£1 = $2

Next thing to decided is lease or buy …. but that is for another post.

Saturday, March 15 2008

I have dropped or lost my good intentions that I had at the beginning of the year to be a better blogger. OMG it is 15 March already. Ops 🙂

I am back in SF from London. In the end I had to go via an estate agent to find a new tenant. The estate agent actually found a tenant who was prepared to pay the estate agent’s fee on top of my preferred rent. Un-bloody-believable. This is London rents I am talking about.

I’d like to say that this flat was done up for me and MH living there so it is in a very good shape. The flat is also v close to two tube stations and got a 24 hours bus just outside. We are not doing this to make ‘a shit load of money’ but are looking to cover our costs. We actually lost some money last year on our previous tenants. But after all that, the rent is pretty high.

I guess it is a trade off with how time you have to spend finding a flat and how much you can pay. If you have the time and wants to pay no more then necessary, then try to find a private landlord.

Loot is another site to use. It is more difficult to find flats on here I think. Still a good place to find private landlords. I paid around Â£40 / $80 to place an ad for 2 weeks. http://www.loot.com/

For me, the value I get for using an estate agent – hopefully – is that once the current lease expires and the tenants are moving out, then I don’t have to deal with any of the crap that I had to do this year.

It was one of the most boring I have ever done. The things that made me continue on were; no-bloody choice, loosing money for each day not having a tenant, our place so all the scrubbing, cleaning, painting is to keep the value of our investment. Owning a property is not a ‘free lunch’ thing

Wednesday, February 20 2008

I am a bit tired, frizzled, fed-up, trying to juggle with one ball too many and then the pinnacle doing some DIY. Oh yeah – I am (not) lovin’ it but I am getting on with stuff and currently dealing with the devil (ie estate agents).

I think I fairly good with keeping my head down and get on with things. They won’t disappear by themselves so …

The good thing is of course being back in London. Oh so I have missed this city!! Crazy huh? But compared to SF, well they don’t really compare since they are two completely different cities.

It is the small things I have missed. And Boots. And M&S. The people and all that fun stuff they are doing like sexual acts on the Tube, the card scamming on the street.

I walk quicker in this city, I eat less and I manage to loose weight *woohoo*

BUT now I want to head back to SF. Feels odd. MH is there, our life is there, our future is there. London will be here when I am ready to move back.

Friday, February 8 2008

Friday, February 8 2008

You are bored, right? And want to continue to be bored if yes, continue reading this post. If no, click here.

I have been busy doing dull things. A lot of them – never ending it felt like. But now, I see the fruit of doing all that dull stuff.

I have to admit that I have been muttering that next this needs to be done – it is my husbands turn. I have done this twice now – his turn next. And since he actually reads this … heh … message delivered!! 🙂

Being busy and just about stressed enough about things – excluding the drama of the first day – it felt good getting the things done.

When going back to London, of course I told my friends I am in town and want to meet up. This has been a real stressful part because I have busy and (many) unexpected things have forced me to cancel and/or re-schedule to meet up. This is not a social trip so all that is second priority. I need finish it all up asap so I can head back to SF and get on with REAL important stuff.

This blog makes zero sense, does it? I am basically slouched down on the sofa with some in-between time and thought I should produce a low-quality post. Mission: completed 😉

Tuesday, January 29 2008

I will soon be heading back to London for a few weeks to sort out some business. The timing is not great as we are in the middle of setting up the company … but hey I am going to London.

My dance card is getting filled meet-ups with friends, ex co-workers and visiting friends. Obviously, I need to get on with the actual tasks so it will be full on.

My new, improve blogging commitment might suffer a bit but as always, it is easier to Twitter then to blog. I shall do my best.

What touristy thing should I do when I go to London?

Tower of London, Tower Bridge, take a leisurely scroll down Oxford Street (HA impossible), visit my beloved Green Park. I think I should do something. Any suggestions?

There is a few fav food place I will make sure I will stop by. It is the small, almost silly things that I miss. Like Nandos (the pitabread chicken fillet), Pizza Express, Zizzi and a great little Turkish restaurant near Brick Lane.

Saturday, January 26 2008

Wednesday, January 23 2008

Further on to the points I wrote before about creating a company name … ahem … I should add that one also need to check what company is already incorporated the state.

Anyways … 🙂

Before incorporating a company other points to review are of course if any of the different company company structure is more tax efficient = less tax to be paid.

Tomorrow, we are having a quick chat with our US Tax Accountant if LLC or a Corporation have any advantages.

Gotta say, there is a lot of bits that has to fit in before the thing can get launched. This is fairly familiar ground to me since my background is within in Finance.

One thing I am not so good at is coming up with a name. But we are getting there. All good domains (especially the .com) are taking. Husband sent an email to this guy asking if we could buy the domain and the guy replied … sure for $40k. No go there then.